Priest jailed for child porn

From: AAP

November 20, 2008 11:00PM

A CHURCH minister has been jailed after he was caught in possession of 170,000 indecent images in one of the biggest child porn stings in Queensland history.

Presbyterian John Caldwell Morrow, 69, from Eagle Heights in the Gold Coast hinterland, was one of 13 men arrested in September last year following a two-month special operation that included tip-offs from German police.

The Brisbane District Court was told on Friday that Morrow was identified as having downloaded a large number of child exploitation images, literature and videos from the internet.

A police raid on his home uncovered more than 170,000 images and videos stored on three computer hard drives.

The court was told the majority of the images featured girls aged between eight and 16 in sexualised poses.

The material also included children as young as three being raped.

The court was told Morrow had kept detailed diaries in 2003 and 2004 that documented his internet accessing history and included addresses for child pornography websites.

Morrow pleaded guilty on Friday to three counts of possessing child exploitation material and one count of using a carriage service to access child pornography.

Judge Michael Noud sentenced him to two and a half years jail, suspended after six months.

Child porn sting

A PRESBYTERIAN minister and two teachers were among 13 men arrested in one of the biggest child porn stings in Queensland history.

The two-month special operation, which included tip-offs from German police, netted 800,000 images of child pornography, including sickening images of babies being abused.

Police with the State Crime Operations Command Task Force Argos expect to carry out more raids this month.

Detective Acting Superintendent Peter Crawford said the operation was conducted with police in Europe and the US.

“Child pornography is not a victimless crime. The crime has a victim somewhere in the state, in the nation, or in the world,” he said.

“These are not images of children frolicking on the beach, these are of children being sexually abused.”

Det-Supt Crawford, who did not release ages of the children, said child pornography was “abhorrent”.

“We are talking about young children, babies being raped in pictures and on video.”

The minister, John Caldwell Morrow, 68, from Eagle Heights, appeared in Southport Magistrates Court on July 20 charged with three counts of possession of child exploitation material and one count each of accessing child pornography and making child exploitation material.

Police raided his home after a tip-off from German police in May.

Court documents revealed Morrow had more than 90,000 images or videos of child pornography stored.

He entered no plea and was granted bail under strict conditions.

Others arrested included a 29-year-old teacher from Maroochydore who appeared in court in June, a 38-year-old unemployed pre-school teacher who appeared in the Cleveland Magistrates Court on August 20, a 39-year-old disabled pensioner from Northgate and a Yatala engineer, 47, who was also a blue card holder.

Almost 30 warrants were executed throughout the operation, leading to the seizure of 12 computer towers, two laptops, 85 CDs, 27 floppy discs, 25 hard drives, 23 USB drives and a modem.

In a separate operation, a Kallangur man, 30, was arrested yesterday after police said he tried to engage in online sexual activities with a detective posing as a 13-year-old girl.

The man allegedly had explicit sexual conversations with the girl in a chatroom, and forwarded images of himself and his four-year-old son.

He was charged with one count of using the internet to groom a child under 16 and will appear in the Petrie Magistrate’s Court on September 21.

Queensland Police urge people not to give out personal information on the net.